My 1st flight over 1 hour in duration.

[error404]

Hi,

I went up to Kilakee last friday evening on my way to Wexford and I had with me, a Multiplex Easystar with stock motor and battery. Bought in Island Models for my Father to get into flying.

The weather was great, very little breeze blowing straight up the slope.  I had not flown in the last few months due to baby twins so I was going to make the most of it.

My previous longest flight was only 20mins :oops:  in Mt Leinster, with an electric 'Daisy'

Anyway, the Easystar was a great little flier, it just gained height so easily and was very easy to control. Flying was so smooth and responsive. I would recommend this as an ideal beginner plane. I took it easy doing figure 8's etc just getting the feel for it. I did not notice the time pass so quickly. My total non stop fly time  was 1 hour and 8 mins. When I decided to land it was fun as the plane did not want to land, it just glides forever  Motor was not used during launch or flight.



 I got 20mins flying in last night on my local soccer pitch and the motor was powerful enough for the plane to get up high and over the tall trees. Also it could fly in small 20mtr circles slowly and smoothly, as i ran down the battery.

[Fred]

Hey Anthony,

Congratulation with the long flight with the Easystar !  :clap:  :clap:
Very nice weather on friday, but was stuck at home  :cry:  :cry:

Certainly one of the best beginner machine you can find around    That allow you to keep practicing flying and gain experience at very low cost too  

[error404]

Fred,

I took a chance on the Friday heading up there as the easystar was in the back of the van.  Otherwise I was going to give it a go in Wexford flying off the sand dunes. It was way too windy on the dunes to try it over the weekend.

[cvanscho]

Congrats, Anthony!  I'll second the EasyStar as the best trainer model out there!

Those who have cut their teeth on the ES should move on to the EasyGlider.  On Sunday I also had an hours flying with mine (OK, not all in one session)!  I was flying off a cliff overlooking the sea at Inch beach, in very light lift.  Eventually the wind died away completely, then the lift really improved!  Had to lie on my back to ease the stiff neck!

Chris

[IceWind]

That is great!
I don't know how much was my longest flight, but it wasn't 1hr for sure! That is too much for me.

I also like the EZ, it's a nice and strong plane. One of the most used to fly with video gear and to have the biggest number of mods available to do.
From converting to EDF, installing some floaters, the list is huge!

Back in PT i tried to make a EZ meeting! But not many EZ owners showed up

[error404]

Icewind:   There is a long list of mods but the only one I might think about would be to put in a cooling vent for the battery  :?:  as it got warm with the motor running.

cvanscho: Not too confident yet to lie on my back and relax while flying  

[Ron]

Nice one Anthony.

I had my first EasyGlider (non-powered) flight the other day.
Brilliant machine.
My local slope is not much of a slope really, and has other odd bumps in front of it which stir up the air, and the only landing places are either bog just behind the 'main' slope, or full of rocks.
So I'd made a FlyingWings wing too, so that could take the knocks while I tried to get some measure of where the lift was, and where it wasn't :cry:

Marks out of 10 for the flyingwing:
Directional stability 2.
Maneuverability 10.
Bounceability 12.

Thanks goodness for the last one :oops:

Then it was the EasyGlider's turn.
By then it was late afternoon and the wind had gone down a bit and some of the gustyness had reduced.

So...
Right thumb on transmitter stick.
Held the EastGlider up with left hand and just let go.
It drifted up about a foot, and hung there stationary, stable as anything.
No trimming needed.
Eased the stick forward a bit and away she went, climbing steadily as she got into the better lift.
Even when I fouled up the 'circle and approach' landing and got over the back of the slope too far, she just seemed to float through the negative lift (is that the right description?) and made it back to the bog.

Marks out of 10 for the EasyGlider.
Directional Stability 10.
Maneuverability 10.
Bounceability - not needed.

In the loop it didn't do any funny tricks and pulled out smoothly.
Trying to make it stall didn't produce any 'tip stall' type wing drops. In fact it wouldn't really stall at all, just sagged the nose down a bit and kept going.

There seems to be so much low speed lift available that I was very glad of the transmitter-mixed aileron air brakes, other wise it would still be flying :lol:

Altogether - brilliant.

Ron

[cvanscho]

Yeah, the EasyGlider can give hours of fun way beyond what you'd expect based on its humble cost.  Fantastic plane!  I've given mine some "Hi-vis" upgrades:  flourescent yellow and orange wing tips on top, and big black stripes underneath.  Helps a lot.

As for: "negative lift"!  I like that!  Can I borrow it?  (Some less imaginative people may refer to it as "sink" :roll: )!

Chris

[IceWind]

error404: just curious what is the setup you have in your EZ?

In mine i kept the speed 400 motor, just plugged in some 3S LiPo packs!
Been careful that i don't give too much "juice" for too long so it don't fry the motor.
And it's been flying like that for more than 1 year, really good performance.
I would only change the prop the is better things than that gunther one that would give him a little more power.

Regarding mods i started building a canopy to hold the camera but never ended it.



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[error404]

IceWind,

I am using the stock 400 motor and prop. Same for the battery 6/1500NiMH again bought from Island models. I was tempted to use a Lipo but decided to stay safe to start with.

Nice canopy mod there, how do you plan on holding your camera in place?


Ron,

I flew the clubs Easy Glider when I met Joe and Fred first on a windy day in Kilakee, did not use the ailerons. Definitely in contention for my first aileron plane.

[IceWind]

Thanks error404.
It was build to hold a small wireless cam.
Its this camera, the plan was to after combine it with some servos and build a FPV platform.